"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Points to Ponder ...

"My children may bicker, and I may—almost certainly will—complain. But the bickering and the griping are chaff, and what’s left when the winds of time carry them away are the golden kernels I want to savor..."
--Melissa Wiley

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June 03, 2008

Look Who's Five!

My little Taz, that's who!

He was so excited about turning 5. He actually expected that when he got up this morning, he'd be so grown-up he'd be bursting out of his clothes!

He chose a yummy (if nutritionally questionable) mealplan for the day -- potato pancakes for breakfast, pizza with sausage for lunch, and waffles, hash browns and sausage for dinner. (And if we were to eat like this every day, we all would soon be bursting out of our clothes!) :)

He's been wanting pumpkin pie for awhile, but when I asked him what he'd like for his birthday he said "Pumpkin Pie Cake, with whipped cream and cherries on top."

Fortunately, I actually have a recipe for that. :)

We gave him his first two-wheeler (a little 14" bike with training wheels), and he could not have been more thrilled. As he toured the driveway for the first time, he called out, "Mommy! I feel like a real man, now!"

He received an assortment of wonderful gifts from his sisters, Grandmom and even his Aunt Marianne (a whole $5 bill! Was he ever thrilled!) ... but the best gift of all came as a surprise early this morning, when Daddy came back home from work!

(There was a fire in the warehouse next door to his office building yesterday, that the fire dept was still battling early this morning; and there were so many fumes that his office had to be shut down for the day. He didn't find out about it until he heard it announced over the radio, 25 minutes into his commute! So it was a real treat for all of us.)

When I was little, on each of our birthdays my mom always said, "Happy Birthday! I'm so glad you came to live at our house!" It was a sweet little thing to say, a reminder that, even though we were all born to my mom and dad, we were precious gifts, given to them by God.

This morning, Taz asked about the day he was born. I reminded him that I wasn't there the day he was born, but I could tell him what I was doing that day.

It was right after Memorial Day weekend in 2003. The Chief had just finished putting together the slide and swingset combo he'd been working on all month, and as Junie B. headed out to joyfully try out the swings, I felt a deep sadness in my heart. We had wanted more children, but -- no need to delve into the sad backstory here; suffice it to say it didn't look good for the home team, and my heart felt particularly heavy that day. I sighed deeply as I watched Junie B. play, and was suddenly overcome with a surprising new conviction: "We're not done yet."

Adoption was not something we had ever seriously considered. Our family was already non-traditional enough, I had thought, and I was willing to leave it at that.

But all of a sudden, on or about June 3, 2003, something inside of me changed.

And a month later we were contacting an adoption agency for an application.

Two months later, we had a referral ... for our little Taz!

And just over 120 days after that, our little Taz came home to us.

I've often wondered, if at that same moment that I realized our family wasn't yet complete, Taz's birthmother may have been lifting up a prayer, too.

Happy birthday, little Taz. We're so glad you came to live at our house!!

Comments

That is incredibly moving. God does have a special plan for all children and all mothers. We have been praying a spiritual adoption for an unborn child, and it made me think that perhaps there was some little church lady, too, who had adopted Taz and had been praying for him while he was in utero, and that her prayers and yours and the birth mother's all joined up to make this happen.

Happy belated Birthday to your beautiful boy. Cate is close to the same age. You had a very quick referral. My dh and I were just discussing the other night that if we had waited even another year that we would have waited so much longer perhaps even still not receiving our referral from China. As it turned out we had our referral within 6 months of submitting our paperwork. I wish it were so today.

Both the photos are adorable. Taz is so cute. Cate had a very similar look in her eyes as he does in the photo of him as a baby.

Welcome to My Blog!

We are a Catholic homeschooling family of 7, a blend of step children, bio children and adoptees, making our way to heaven the best way we know how! Here's a record of our journey, with thoughts on anything we care about--mostly homeschooling, faith and finding a way to make it all work for each of us. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your visit!